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Interesting question.


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I do not know how it works buy series from other countries, but as I have understood, in that sense, HBO has been very successful. Many countries have bought the rights to the series before the premiere of USA.

Is it sufficient to amortize certain expenses of the series?

How much better to buy "A Game of Thrones" for display in other countries?

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Foreign sales of a TV series can be a very big revenue stream for any show. Shows like "Friends" and "Baywatch" were massive international hits. I don't know what is typical for this sort of thing, but a lot probably has to do with the kind of show it is. I think Thrones is the kind of show that will have a very universal appeal - for instance, the film "Troy," (not dissimilar: action, swords, battles, intrigue) was only moderately successful in the U.S. but a pretty massive hit internationally. Generally, movies will make twice as much at the box-office abroad as they do in the U.S., but some movies will only have local appeal or appeal in a limited number of places (like a movie about baseball, for instance), others like Troy might do better abroad.

HBO has versions of their channel in many other countries that will carry the show, so for those places I guess the model is similar to how they figure it for the US (high enough ratings to justify it). For other places where they sell it to local channels, it's all about how many dollars, yen, euros, etc. they are bringing in. It's quite possible they've sold it to enough places already that only if North American and UK ratings are really dismal, will they consider canceling it.

I can only guess how the math works for these things, though, but the show is already making a lot of money for HBO from foreign sales even before it has aired, so that can only be a good thing. Of course if ratings in these foreign markets are bad, they probably won't sell future seasons for as much, if at all. The UK deal is more comprehensive, as it is all of HBO's shows to be aired on a new Sky network set up just for that purpose, so Thrones is just one piece of a much larger puzzle in that case. I think there have been one or more similar deals elsewhere, IIRC.

The other big immediate revenue stream for them to look at is iTunes downloads, which can add millions in sales per episode directly. This is something they can track immediately, as soon as it gets released in that venue. They will then eventually have DVD sales to consider. Based on how ratings (and probably iTunes sales) behave, they'll have to make some assumptions about how well the DVD sales will do in the future, which I'm sure by now they have some models for.

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Foreign sales of a TV series can be a very big revenue stream for any show. Shows like "Friends" and "Baywatch" were massive international hits. I don't know what is typical for this sort of thing, but a lot probably has to do with the kind of show it is. I think Thrones is the kind of show that will have a very universal appeal - for instance, the film "Troy," (not dissimilar: action, swords, battles, intrigue) was only moderately successful in the U.S. but a pretty massive hit internationally. Generally, movies will make twice as much at the box-office abroad as they do in the U.S., but some movies will only have local appeal or appeal in a limited number of places (like a movie about baseball, for instance), others like Troy might do better abroad.

HBO has versions of their channel in many other countries that will carry the show, so for those places I guess the model is similar to how they figure it for the US (high enough ratings to justify it). For other places where they sell it to local channels, it's all about how many dollars, yen, euros, etc. they are bringing in. It's quite possible they've sold it to enough places already that only if North American and UK ratings are really dismal, will they consider canceling it.

I can only guess how the math works for these things, though, but the show is already making a lot of money for HBO from foreign sales even before it has aired, so that can only be a good thing. Of course if ratings in these foreign markets are bad, they probably won't sell future seasons for as much, if at all. The UK deal is more comprehensive, as it is all of HBO's shows to be aired on a new Sky network set up just for that purpose, so Thrones is just one piece of a much larger puzzle in that case. I think there have been one or more similar deals elsewhere, IIRC.

The other big immediate revenue stream for them to look at is iTunes downloads, which can add millions in sales per episode directly. This is something they can track immediately, as soon as it gets released in that venue. They will then eventually have DVD sales to consider. Based on how ratings (and probably iTunes sales) behave, they'll have to make some assumptions about how well the DVD sales will do in the future, which I'm sure by now they have some models for.

You've been perfect. I really enjoyed your opinion. :bowdown:

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Foreign sales of a TV series can be a very big revenue stream for any show. Shows like "Friends" and "Baywatch" were massive international hits. I don't know what is typical for this sort of thing, but a lot probably has to do with the kind of show it is. I think Thrones is the kind of show that will have a very universal appeal - for instance, the film "Troy," (not dissimilar: action, swords, battles, intrigue) was only moderately successful in the U.S. but a pretty massive hit internationally. Generally, movies will make twice as much at the box-office abroad as they do in the U.S., but some movies will only have local appeal or appeal in a limited number of places (like a movie about baseball, for instance), others like Troy might do better abroad.

HBO has versions of their channel in many other countries that will carry the show, so for those places I guess the model is similar to how they figure it for the US (high enough ratings to justify it). For other places where they sell it to local channels, it's all about how many dollars, yen, euros, etc. they are bringing in. It's quite possible they've sold it to enough places already that only if North American and UK ratings are really dismal, will they consider canceling it.

I can only guess how the math works for these things, though, but the show is already making a lot of money for HBO from foreign sales even before it has aired, so that can only be a good thing. Of course if ratings in these foreign markets are bad, they probably won't sell future seasons for as much, if at all. The UK deal is more comprehensive, as it is all of HBO's shows to be aired on a new Sky network set up just for that purpose, so Thrones is just one piece of a much larger puzzle in that case. I think there have been one or more similar deals elsewhere, IIRC.

The other big immediate revenue stream for them to look at is iTunes downloads, which can add millions in sales per episode directly. This is something they can track immediately, as soon as it gets released in that venue. They will then eventually have DVD sales to consider. Based on how ratings (and probably iTunes sales) behave, they'll have to make some assumptions about how well the DVD sales will do in the future, which I'm sure by now they have some models for.

Troy probably because 'we Europeans' have more of a connection with the old Greeks and their hsitory and such. :rolleyes:

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It all depends on how much money they are making on the show from overseas sales and how much they think they will make on DVD/iTunes sales. If they think it will be profitable, they'll keep the show going.

I really haven't a clue how much they are making from overseas sales and nobody yet knows what they expect to make from the other venues.

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$45 million for the season, which is about half of what Rome cost - but they have managed to get a lot more out of that smaller budget with various deals they made. Where they shot Rome in Italy was one of the most expensive places to shoot in the world, very high cost for studio space apparently. For Thrones they are getting to use one of the largest sound stage spaces in the world for free, the only deal is that they have to hire local production people and actors as much as possible. It's saving them an enormous amount on the cost of this thing, so they've been much smarter about their money this time around..

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$45 million for the season, which is about half of what Rome cost - but they have managed to get a lot more out of that smaller budget with various deals they made. Where they shot Rome in Italy was one of the most expensive places to shoot in the world, very high cost for studio space apparently. For Thrones they are getting to use one of the largest sound stage spaces in the world for free, the only deal is that they have to hire local production people and actors as much as possible. It's saving them an enormous amount on the cost of this thing, so they've been much smarter about their money this time around..

Thanks for answering. I had not read before. sorry

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  • 3 weeks later...

One question.

And if the series failed in the U.S. and yet has many successes in countries where they bought the rights. Would there be more seasons?

It doesn't happen much but I know of one anime show that bombed in Japan but was brought back due to huge praise from the US. It's called the Big O. It's like Batman with giant robots.

I believe I read at one point that Band of Brothers, which was the most expensive TV show ever made, made up its production cost in sales to foreign TV stations alone but I can't find a figure for it now.

By the way Band of Brothers is an amazing show.

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It seems to me very bad news

It's very bad news, indeed, julandro, especially when you consider the unsubstantiated rumor that the extra funding GoT lacked would've gone into the lighting of Cersei and Lancel FLD. The rumored plan was to have a drunken Robert facing off with the boar, belligerently waving off help from Renly and others, intercut with a slow romantic scene between Cersei and Lancel. Both scenes would've increased in intensity, until you had Robert in a life and death struggle with the wounded boar, juxtaposed with the frantic thrusting of Lancel and Cersei's desperate moans (I'm imagining Cersei on all-fours in this scene, but that's just me). Obviously, this makes no sense, because Lancel was the one who gave Robert the strongwine, and he couldn't be in both places at once. This is where the shoddy lighting plays a crucial role: the scene with Cersei and Lancel should've been lit to convey to the viewer that it was happening at a different time, either before the hunt, or afterwards (either Cersei coaxing Lancel, or giving him a reward; I think I like the second idea better). Anyway, it had to be scrapped. 'Camelot' will suffer from no such shortcomings; thanks to the overflowing purse Starz has made available, we will get to see Arthur having his way with every woman in the cast.

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can not be true!! "Camelot is more expensive than" Game of Thrones?

http://7kingdoms.ru/...rat-v-prestoly/

It seems to me very bad news

It depends on how the money is being used. Also, the biggest budget in the world can't make up for a bad script or story. The movie "Hudson Hawk" cost $65 million, but was still terrible because the script was so bad and only made $17 million. "The Usual Suspects" cost only $6 million, but was done so well it looked like a $40 million movie, made $23 million in the theater and its script won the Academy Award...which one is still being viewed, bought on DVD and talked about and bought to this day?

You need a certain level of budget to get the look you want, but it's also how it's used. In my posts above I discussed how GoT is saving money, while top production values.

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